1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an applicator structure in the form of a glove. The invention can be particularly advantageous for gloves used to massage and/or apply a product to the hair and scalp.
2. Discussion of Background
Toiletry gloves for the body are known. Such gloves are generally made of cotton or a sponge material. The advantage of the invention is that it provides a glove making it possible to better contact the full body of hair, while limiting the hand actions required for obtaining this result.
In its simplest embodiment, a toiletry glove or mitt has a rectangular shape produced so that two fabric panels are connected in order to provide an opening level with one of the edges of the rectangle, so that a user's hand can be inserted between the two fabric panels. The user may optionally wet and impregnate his or her glove with a body hygiene product, in order to apply the product to his or her skin.
In order to meet the needs of traveling customers, who have little access to sources of water, gloves have been developed which are impregnated with body hygiene products that are effective even for dry application. In particular, flannels (generally rectangular pieces of fabric) are known which can be impregnated with various products such as makeup remover products, foaming products for cleaning the skin, or deodorant and/or freshening compositions.
If such flannels are used in the field of hair, for example ones impregnated with hair care products, problems are encountered in that they are difficult to handle and the product performance is less than optimal. One difficulty with this type of product is that the flannel rolls up quickly when massaging the hair. It is therefore necessary to hold the flannel firmly in the hand, but this hand action is incompatible with the hand actions appropriate for ensuring maximum contact with the body of hair. Massage is consequently obtained only at the surface, rather than in the body of the hair or throughout the hair.
It is known to use gloves for improved massage of the body of the hair. These gloves fit closely around the user's hand and allow him or her to penetrate into the body of the hair with each glove finger.
GB-A-2,035,052 discloses a waterproof glove for massaging the hair when applying a shampoo. This glove has small conical protuberances on each of the fingers of the glove, extending radially from the outer surface of the glove fingers. This glove is molded of a plastic material. It is therefore not a good medium to be impregnated with cosmetic or hygiene products. In fact, absorbent materials are preferably chosen for impregnation with a hygiene product which is intended for application to the skin or the hair.
Absorbent materials can be used such as those provided for the production of flannels. However, impregnated gloves made from such materials can be costly to manufacture. This is because, in order to produce a glove with individualized fingers, two sheets of absorbent fabric are bonded together and they are then cut according to a template to have individual fingers. There is therefore a loss between the amount of fabric which is used and the amount ending up in the gloves actually produced. These losses are unrecoverable or require a recycling stage to recover a portion of the lost material. A further difficulty is that once the gloves have been manufactured, they form a corresponding number of packaged units to be impregnated with a product, and the handling of each of these units is difficult. It is moreover difficult to impregnate the fabric beforehand because it can require manual cutting which is time-consuming and laborious. Manual cutting of the gloves also generates a risk of bacterial contamination, and demands an additional stage of sanitizing the gloves which are produced. This last stage will place a further burden on the manufacturing process and manufacturing cost.